Sabarimala gold ‘theft’ case: Kerala SIT arrests prime accused Unnikrishnan Potti

The Kerala high court-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the “misappropriation” of gold-plated copper moulds covering the stone carvings and sculptures at the Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple has arrested Unnikrishnan Potti, the prime accused in the religiously emotive case, early on Friday (October 17, 2025). 

The first arrest in the case occurred in the early hours against the backdrop of an intensifying opposition agitation demanding the resignations of Devaswom Minister V. N. Vasavan and Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) president, P. S. Prasanth.

Location unknown

The SIT had summoned Mr. Potti to the Crime Branch office on Thursday. However, his location remained unknown to the family, his lawyer, and journalists covering the investigation for hours. 

Before formal arrest, the SIT escorted Mr. Potti to the General Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram for a detailed medical examination. Later, the SIT allowed Mr. Potti to contact his family and inform them about his whereabouts.

Inter-State probe

The inter-State investigation involving former Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) officials, Mr. Potti, and the owners of a copper-gold artefacts smelting, electroplating, and restoration firm was fast unfolding under wraps, as per the High Court’s strict direction. 

Mr. Potti, who worked as the assistant to a TDB-appointed priest at Sabarimala in the early 2010s, had emerged as the central focus of the investigation after he revealed, somewhat intriguingly, in September that two copper-gold overlays he had donated to the temple in 2019 were missing. 

Startling Revelation

The “startling revelation” rocked the Left Democratic Front (LDF) government and cast a shadow over its attempt to organise the Global Ayyappa Sanghamam (at Pampa), ostensibly to develop Sabarimala. Consequently, the High Court’s division bench, which oversees Sabarimala affairs, ordered a preliminary investigation by the TDB’s vigilance.

The controversy took a sharp turn with the vigilance recovering the “missing gold-plated panels” from the house of Mr. Potti’s sister in Thiruvananthapuram.

Manual violation

Later, the vigilance reported to the high court that TDB officials had contracted Mr. Potti, given the latter’s high social connections and traction with the temple orthodoxy, to restore the gold-copper veneers contributed to the temple in 1998 by industrialist Vijay Mallya. 

The vigilance noted that the TDB had brazenly violated the temple manual by entrusting the religious artefacts to a private person with an allegedly chequered history.

Protracted detour

Moreover, the unit found that the artefacts took a protracted detour of 39 days to reach the restoration factory in Chennai, raising suspicion of the replication of the panels in copper and of the possible sale of the original veneers to a wealthy collector for private worship. 

The vigilance also underscored an intention to commit a crime on the part of the TDB officials who handed the gold-plated coverings to Mr. Potti’s associate after suspiciously accounting for the objects in temple ledgers as made of pure copper. So far, the SIT has named seven former and serving TDB officials as accused in the case. 

Custody for questioning

Officials indicated that the SIT would produce Mr. Potti before a magistrate in Ranni, Pathanamthitta district, later in the day and seek his custody for further questioning. 

They said the investigation was still at a nascent stage. The SIT was reportedly scouring through Mr Potti’s 2019 mobile telephone records to track the itinerary of the temple artefacts from Sabarimala to the factory via Bengaluru and Hyderabad.

Private worship

The TDB’s internal vigilance told the High Court that en route, the suspects kept the objects at the houses of film stars and celebrities for private worship and violated rituals by offering pooja.

Two cases

Officials said the SIT have also identified the persons who took custody of the temple artefacts from Sabarimala at Mr Potti’s instance. Earlier, the SIT had registered two FIRs in the case in Pathanamthitta. It named Mr Potti as the prime accused in both cases.